Okay, here's another (simpler) idea for C-Team comm. It can apply to one squad or to multiple squads, and it doesn't matter what type of squad (air support, ground assault, special ops, sniper, repair) it is.

In the picture above, each squad is set up normally inside Battlefield 2. The Squad Leaders (green dots) communicate with the Commander and with their respective squad members using normal BF2 VOIP, and they can determine the structure of their squads (two fireteams, three fireteams, a helicopter pilot and gunner, etc.) as they see fit.

In each squad, however, is a special player called a Relay (blue dot). The Relay is a normal member of the squad, but he is ALSO in Teamspeak with his own individual channel under the already established "C-Team Squad" channel. All Relays are Channel Commanders of their respective channels in Teamspeak, and they're able to communicate with the Relays in the other channels (in the other squads) in this manner. So whenever the Squad Leader of a squad wants to communicate with another squad, he tells his Relay which squad to address and what to say. The Relay passes his Squad Leader's message along to the other Relays in Teamspeak, and then the Relay in the squad for which the message is intended passes the message along to his Squad Leader.

Each squad using this scheme would be able to communicate with every other squad in this manner, and no player would ever have to manage more than two comm channels at once. Comm discipline would be important, and the Relays would need to be especially good at it.

The ONLY players who would need to do anything differently in this scheme are the Relays. They would need to be able to use both VOIP and Teamspeak simultaneously without technical issues, and they'd need to be able to get Teamspeak set up (with help, if needed). They would need to log into Teamspeak before play started each night and create their respective channels, making themselves Channel Commanders in each of their channels. We could have several Relays standing by in Teamspeak so that they could switch between squads if necessary, but only one Relay would need to be active in a given squad. If multiple Relays were in one squad, one would be chosen as the "active" Relay and the other(s) would mute any comm traffic coming from Teamspeak. The "dormant" Relay(s) would then play as a normal squad member for that round(s).

With this system, Squad Leaders wouldn't have to coordinate comm between the air support squad, or even between other C-Team ground squads if we ever need/want to create more than one on a given night. Squad Leaders would only need to address their respective Relays in the normal VOIP squad channel, but they would need to be specific ("Relay, call for air support," or "Relay, call for backup from other ground squad," etc.).

The ideal guys to be Relays would be those who want to do a little more with their gaming and push the fun factor up a little. Others who didn't want to be Relays could play normally and wouldn't notice anything different, but would still benefit from having a Relay in the squad.


Guys, I think this system might be a good compromise between the various ideas floating around in this thread. It's very simple, it works no matter the type or number of squads, it only requires extra work from a few people (the Relays), it frees up the Squad Leader from having to coordinate so many things, and it allows communication between squads. What do ya'll think about it?